Birthdays and Anniversaries

Birthdays

King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden, 51; Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, 88; Sir James Adams, consultant, Control Risks Group, former ambassador to Egypt, 65; Dr Gerald Aylmer, historian, 71; Mrs Janey Buchan, MEP, 71; Mrs Barbara Calvert QC, a Recorder of the Crown Court, 71; Miss Jill Clayburgh, actress, 53; Sir Robin David, circuit judge, 75; Mr Dickie Davies, sports commentator, 64; Lord Diamond, former leader of the SDP in the House of Lords, 90; Mr Michael Elder, actor and writer, 66; The Rev Paul Fiddes, Principal, Regent's Park College, Oxford, 50; Dame Isabel Graham-Bryce, former chairman, Oxford Regional Hospital Board, 95; Mr Leslie Grantham, actor, 51; Mr William Henry, former chairman, Coats Paton, 82; Mr Alfred Lomas, MEP, 69; Lord McIntosh of Haringey, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords, 64; Mr Keith Povey, Chief Constable, Leicestershire, 54; Lord Sanderson of Bowden, former chairman, Scottish Conservative Party, 64.

Anniversaries

Births: Jacques-Louis David, painter, 1748; Sir John Lubbock, first Baron Avebury, banker, writer and entomologist, 1834. Deaths: Edouard Manet, painter, 1883; Alfred Edward Housman, poet and scholar, 1936; Adolf Hitler, dictator, committed suicide 1945; Eva Braun, mistress of Adolf Hitler, committed suicide 1945; George Balanchine, choreographer, 1983; Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield), rhythm and blues singer, 1983. On this day: under an Edict issued by Galerius Valerius Maximianus, Christians were legally recognised by the Roman Empire, 311; General George Washington was inaugurated as first US president, 1789; John Luther ("Casey") Jones, was killed when his Cannonball express crashed into a freight train near Vaughn, Mississippi, 1900; the World Fair opened in St Louis, Missouri, 1904; the South Vietnamese government surrendered unconditionally to the Vietcong, 1975. Today is the Feast Day of St Eutropius of Saintes, St Forannan, St Gualfardus or Wolfhard, Saints Marianus, James and Others, St Maximus of Ephesus and St Pius V, pope.